by Jehan Perera The extraordinary events that took place during 2022 have reached their denouement at the recently concluded presidential election. The Aragalaya protests that lasted for over three months in the middle of 2022 that were spearheaded by youth and became a mighty protest movement by tens of thousands of people from all walks of life and all parts of the country finally drove the then president and government from power. But as the president and government they forced out had more than two years of their terms remaining, being elected in 2019 and 2020 respectively, the protestors could only force the government to resign.
They could not replace it with a government of their choice until elections were due again, which happened on September 21. Now, in another extraordinary turn of events, the Sri Lankan people have elected a new president with a democratic mandate that comes from having won the presidential election of 2024. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake comes from outside the mainstream political parties that have dominated Sri Lanka’s political life from the very dawn of Independence from colonial rule in 1948.
More than any other candidate, Anura Kumara Dissanayake represented the spirit of the Aragalaya protest movement of 2022 which called for “system change” and for new faces in politics. Underlying both these demands was the conviction that the Augean Stables of corrupt government needed to be cleansed. The victory of NPP leader Anura Kumara Dis.